[artinfo] Criminalization of climate activists and cultural producers in the Czech Republic
Oliver Ressler
oliver at ressler.at
Thu Dec 12 13:51:52 CET 2019
I am one of 90 people who participated at a
blockade of Bílina coal mine in Northern Bohemia
in the Czech Republic in June 2018, against who
the company Severoãeské doly ("North Bohemian
Coal Mines") filed a lawsuit at the City Court in
Chomutov. With legal repression, they think they
can silence protests against coal mining.
There is a fundraising campaign running to cover
the cost of the court case and attorneys, so
please feel free to share and donate:
https://www.darujme.cz/projekt/1201737?locale=en
This is my statement that has been published in
Czech translation on social media as part of the
defense campaign:
*
**In times of climate breakdown, when the
Amazonas is on fire and Venice under water, when
the Arctic ice is melting and ecosystems
collapsing, the ongoing extraction from the Earth
of coal and gas must be seen for what it is: a
crime against humanity. The blockading of coal
mines and other fossil infrastructure is
therefore an entirely legitimate form of
self-defense: an attempt to protect humanity,
ecosystems and all forms of life on planet from
even greater damage. **
**Whatever particular reasons led people to join
the blockade, they are sure to have been good
reasons. Speaking personally, my reason is that
as an artist and film-maker I have followed the
climate justice movement for the last couple of
years, documenting the ever-evolving forms of
mass civil disobedience and amplifying the voices
of climate activists in films and other artworks.
To be among such committed people is constantly
inspiring. I hope my work can help at least in
some small way to share these shining moments of
climate action with people who are not yet part
of it. **
**My involvement in the blockade of the Bílina
coal mine in 2018 resulted in the film
"Everything's coming together while everything's
falling apart: Limity jsme my" (4K, 10 min.,
2019), which is the fifth film in a cycle of
films on climate action. **
**It can be watched in exhibitions, biennials and
screenings, or through following this link:
https://vimeo.com/293150164 (password: Northern
Bohemia)**
**
**Oliver Ressler*
http://www.ressler.at/everythings_coming_together/
https://vimeo.com/oliverressler
https://www.instagram.com/oliver.ressler
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